Previously, I wrote a post breaking down the silos between executive briefing programs and event marketing. While they may look like very different experiences, they share many of the same goals, resources and capabilities and, most importantly, many of the same customers.
The opportunity is to connect these programs around the customer journey, sharing content, creative resources, technology, vendors and data to create a more consistent experience. Today I’ll take that idea a step further and look at how both programs can work together across the customer journey.
The Biggest Opportunity May Be the Customer Journey.
This is where executive briefings and events can become much more powerful together. Imagine a customer journey that looks like this:
Those shouldn’t feel like six unrelated marketing activities. They should feel like one ongoing relationship and does not always have one preset path.
- The trade show might create awareness, new connections and opportunities.
- The dinner creates a personal connection.
- The executive briefing provides deeper education, uncovers potential partnerships, and expansion of connection.
- The innovation center creates hands-on engagement and learning.
- The advisory board creates collaboration.
- The major event reinforces the relationship.
Now you aren’t simply executing events. You’re orchestrating customer engagements across all face-to-face touchpoints.
Should They Report to the Same Leader?
Maybe but I wouldn’t make organizational structure the starting point. The more important question is do they operate from the same strategy?
You can have two separate leaders and still have a highly integrated program. You can also put both programs under one executive and still have two completely disconnected organizations.
That said, there are real advantages to bringing them under common leadership particularly when the organization is large enough to support it.
A shared leader can help create:
- One customer engagement strategy
- Shared budgets and resources
- Consistent brand standards
- Integrated measurement
- Better resource utilization
- Stronger collaboration with sales
- A unified customer journey
Instead of fighting over budget, the teams can ask a much better question:
“What’s the best way to engage this customer?”
Sometimes that’s a trade show. Sometimes it’s an executive briefing. Sometimes it’s both.
Don't Combine Everything Just for the Sake of Combining It.
There is also a warning here. Executive briefings and events are different disciplines. A briefing might involve eight executives and/or subject matter experts and require an extraordinary level of personalization with weeks of preparation.
A major industry event might involve 20,000 attendees and hundreds of customer interactions. The operating models aren’t identical.
So, I wouldn’t necessarily create one giant “Events & Briefings Department” and assume the problem is solved. Instead, I’d create shared strategy, shared resources and shared accountability while preserving the specialized expertise each program requires.
Think of it as an ecosystem rather than an organizational chart. Partners in success following a shared goal.
Measure the Business Impact Together.
Another opportunity is measurement.
Events often get measured by:
- Attendance
- Leads
- Meetings
- Pipeline
- Cost per lead
Executive briefings might get measured by:
- Attendees
- Executive participation
- Customer satisfaction
- Opportunities influenced
Those metrics aren’t wrong. They’re just incomplete. What happens if we connect the dots?
- What percentage of customers attending an executive briefing also attended your major event?
- Did event attendees who participated in a briefing progress further through the sales cycle?
- Did an executive briefing following a trade show accelerate an opportunity?
- Did the customer have a better experience because the two programs were connected?
That’s where measurement starts becoming really interesting.
The Future Is Not "Events vs. Briefings".
The now and the future is customer engagement. Customers don’t experience your organization through your org chart. They experience it through interactions. Some are large. Some are small. Some happen on a show floor. Some happen around a conference table. Some happen over dinner. The smartest organizations will stop asking: “Who owns the event?” or “Who owns the executive briefing?” And start asking:
“What is the right experience for this customer, at this point in the relationship?”
Sometimes the answer will be a trade show. Sometimes it will be an executive briefing. And sometimes the answer will be both. The real opportunity isn’t necessarily putting the programs under the same leader.
It's making sure they are working toward the same customer, the same business objectives and the same experience.
Because when your event strategy and executive briefing strategy start working together, you don’t just get better events or better briefings. You get a better customer journey.
About the Author.
Dave Brull is the Vice President, Global Accounts at Kubik. He has over 20 years of integrated sales and marketing experience including partnering on experiential activations across the globe for brands such as Johnson Controls, HP Inc., Microsoft, Philips, and Verizon. He brings a unique viewpoint since he has worked for brands, associations, and agencies over the course of his career. He also sits on the BOD of The Exhibitor Advocate Association and the Advisory Board for the Global Association of Customer Engagement Professionals (GACEP).